So I've been doing this for awhile now and a few other peeps have tried it and seem to like it. although toadstool i think was having a bit of trouble, though it may be other factors, but I thought it was at least worth making a thread about. It's a pretty simple concept... you simply wait to case until your sub starts knotting and shows a few small pins. heres the reasoning I've come to after some deep thought about why it may be effective... just remember that this is all just what i've found ime and imo... feel free to give it a whirl and see if you like it.
1. If you keep a casing layer off the top of the substrate and expose the sub to light from the time you lay it out, you are initiating knotting on the entirety of the substrate. When you cover the sub with a casing layer, you are cutting off light penetration to some of the sub. This will ultimately give you more fruits, at least some more fruits compared to the alternative.
2. (a) The casing layer should not be colonized very much if at all... thats not what it's for. It's not to hydrate the sub either. it does slow the release of evaporating water from the top of the substrate but while thats an important part it's a bit different than supplying the sub with hydration. The casing is to trap small air pockets of moist air to encourage developing pins and knots.. If the casing layer is colonized, the substrate cannot breathe like it should be able to.
(b) The substrate doesn't use the casing layer after the fruits have developed passed small pins. The fruits themselves act as the fruiting environment. If you think of an uncased bin, does it have a casing layer? The answer is actually yes; the entire rest of the bin is the fruiting environment... when you apply a casing layer, you are basically shrinking that fruiting environment down to the 1/2 inch directly above the substrate. This encourages the knots to form into pins and those pins to go on to develop into small mushrooms.. But then what happens after the fruits grow above the casing layer? Thats when the fruits themselves become the fruits surrounding them as a "casing layer"... kind of a one hand washes the other situation. I mean think about it.. if you put one cake in the middle of a 54 qt bin by itself, do you think that would do as well as if you put 24 cakes in that bin? no, because the cakes use the heat and perspiration of the cakes surrounding them as a fruiting environment. The same reason that the chronic tek works so well.. it's a cake in a small environment. heres an example of what I mean...
notice in that pic how the casing layer is barely colonized if at all. The substrate at this point has stopped using the casing layer in the sense that the fruits are using it.. but the casing layer is slowing the evaporation of water from the top of the substrate. And since the casing layer was added after the sub switched from the colonizing stage to the fruiting stage, the casing layer is not being consumed which helps the sub breathe. I know you've all noticed that once your bins' fruits reach a certain height, the bins are considerably warmer and moister inside. This is because the fruits are making that environment; basically helping themselves grow.
3. Another reason that this is a good idea is the length of time that the casing material is exposed to the substrate is greatly reduced. This in turns reduces the amount of risk the casing layer imposes on the substrate in harboring contamination. In example...
the amount of time it took this bin to get from here (right when the sub started pinning and the casing was applied)
to looking like this...
was a mere four days. And since the time is so short, there should be no reason to add water to the casing after you first apply it.
heres other bins that have been late cased: all are 54 Qt bins except for the last tex bin, thats just a shorter version of the 54 qt.
that same bin in the first pic (SA's) only a couple days later..
the other two HB bins..
Tex on popcorn rez that were late cased (this is actually at the point that I accidentally stumbled upon it--not that I'm the first to do it lol--just speaking in my own sense)
Now, I'm strictly speaking of the bulk and grain casing methods and not for cakes. I actually do use the DECing's for water retention and cake hydration and not the usual method of a casing that the fruits grow "up" through.
I would love to hear any opinions and ideas about this and they are more than welcome. again, this is all just theory and me thinking out loud, but it seems to be working, for myself at least :rasta: thanks yall.
Fahstser
